From painting

Color

Sometimes it would seem my paintings are kind of devoid of color, mostly very subdued or even simply black objects on simple white grounds. So I decided to swing the pendulum entirely the other way.

The Relationship Between Blue & Green Oil Painting by Christopher Stott
22 x 28 / oil on canvas

Above we have The Relationship Between Blue and Green. Turquoise. I used all the blues and greens on the palette.

I found myself a fantastic antique and vintage dealership near my new home. They were helpful in entertaining the idea of going through their shop looking for objects of certain colors. A birdhouse, an old clothes iron, a jewellery box, vintage luggage, an enamel cup, and a little alarm clock.

Red Lantern, Tonka Truck, Vintage Gas Can Oil Painting by Christopher Stott
18 x 36 / oil on canvas

Amber and Andrew at Everything Old are so friendly, so generous and helpful. For the Red painting they helped me find an old traffic warning lantern, a Tonka cement truck and a gasoline can. Makes for a bold, bright vehicle theme.

Blue Objects Oil Painting by Christopher Stott
18 x 36 / oil on canvas

The Blue painting has an enamel coffee pot, tea pot, cup and flashlight. I thought it was interesting the way the paintings each ended up with a theme of sorts, beyond the color focus.

All The Hours in a Day

Oil Painting All The Hours in a Day by Christopher Stott

Twenty four vintage alarm clocks depicting all the hours in a day.

This painting has already sold, but there are affordable prints available. The folks at the Elliott Fouts Gallery will answer any questions you have and they ship worldwide.

For years — and I mean years — I have talked about my paintings being about the narrative of the vintage objects I paint.

I’m not so sure that’s it. Or at least, that’s not all they are about. I see the paintings really being about three things. 1) Technique 2) Minimalism 3) Subject

The technique I use, the slow layering of paint, the close attention to detail, it’s such a huge part of the work. I spend a great deal of time looking at realist painting, historic painting and new paintings being made right now. What I see in the technique is a connection to hundreds of years of art making, a connection to hundreds of years of artists.

My compositions are all straight forward and simple. They are minimalist. A philosophy that I strive to apply in all parts of life. When I’m not looking up art on the web, I’m looking up blogs and books about minimalism. In painting, I can quit literally design compositions that depict minimalist philosophy.

And right on top of that minimal composition, the subject sits with its own ideas. Vintage alarm clocks, for example, are all about time. They also have colours and shapes — numerous circles and ellipses, the hands pointing in all directions.

Ready

 

Vintage Kodak Camera Painting by Christopher Stott
Vintage Polaroid SX-70 Camera Painting by Christopher Stott

I am finished the twenty paintings for my July show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery. Above are five of the images I shared on Instagram, where you can find me as xmarksthestott.

Over the last year, I moved from the house where my family lived for a decade to a rented home in a new city, then to a new home of our own. Moving a family a couple times in a single year is serious work. It has been months that I worked amongst boxes stacked beside me in studio spaces that have felt temporary and really, really chaotic. Only today did I finally get the last part of my studio set up. I plan on being here for a long time and I wanted it to feel right, to feel like a space where I can easily focus and spend my days.

We had some misadventures over the last year. My wife and I honestly don’t think we would have relocated our family if we were able to peek in to a crystal ball and saw what was before us. But everything works out. We stuck to it. Our kids are happy. We are happy.

So now that we are settling down proper and good in our new home, I’m ready to get a little more ambitious with my painting.

Type A, Type B & Popular Etiquette

I was having a conversation with Cynthia, an art consultant at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, about one of my paintings. Apparently someone was looking at one of my unruly stacks of books and said they’d constantly be compelled to organize the books, straighten them out and make a tidy pile.

I like hearing about how different people interpret my paintings. And the idea occurred to me then to honor different personality types and how they relate to each other and can be integrated in to the same relationship, or paintings, in this case.

Type A, Type B
Type A, Type B / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010
Type B, Type A / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010
Type B, Type A / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010

A good friend of mine brought me an old paperback re-print of a Victorian era Popular Etiquette Book. Leafing through it, I have to say that although there are definitely missing virtues in today’s world, Victorian’s really made things uncomfortable for themselves with the litany of rigid rules and guidelines to follow.

Popular Etiquette / 16 x 20 / oil on canvas / 2010
Popular Etiquette / 16 x 20 / oil on canvas / 2010

Mandolin

This mandolin (20″ x 30″ — Oil/Canvas — 2009) was made in the 1890s in Sicily by Luigi Fenga. I posted a picture of me working on this painting in April here.

In 1919 a young man named Robert McPherson was serving as a medic in the Canadian 29th Infantry Battalion during WWI. He picked up this mandolin second hand in Belgium before he returned home. In 1965, as an elderly man, Mr. McPerhson befriended a young man and his family who were renting a cabin on the same property he lived on and eventually gave them the mandolin as a gift. My connection… I know the sister-in-law to the once young man in the 60s who received the mandolin from Mr. McPherson. He was kind enough to lend me it as a subject for painting.

I’m fascinated by the lineage and connected stories objects can have. It’s easy to conjure up visions of a young soldier playing the mandolin, likely one of few momentary escapes in what would have been an unimaginable time.

I did some research and found these two photographs of the 29th Battalion. There’s no way of knowing if Mr. McPherson is in these photos or knew these fellows, but they give perspective to the time, place and atmosphere.

The Fans

Two Vintage Electric Fans 20" x 24" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
Two Vintage Electric Fans
20″ x 24″ — Oil/Canvas — 2009

It turns out I have an interest in industrial design. And nostalgia. And strong geometric shapes. And icons and symbols found in everyday objects. The interests manifest themselves in paintings. Paintings that are done with a slight lean on old masters painting techniques with an emphasis on how that light falls on these objects. Recently that light has been the dependable light from a north-facing window in my house.

Vintage Electric Fan, Three Glasses of Water 30" x 36" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
Vintage Electric Fan, Three Glasses of Water
30″ x 36″ — Oil/Canvas — 2009

The Bosc Pear

My muse, the pear. The perfect way to study light and color with a simply beautiful shape. These two pieces will be included in the June show.

Three Bosc Pears & Antique Book / 16 x 24 / oil on canvas / 2009
Three Bosc Pears & Antique Book / 16 x 24 / oil on canvas / 2009

 

Nine Pear Huddle / 20 x 30 / oil on canvas / 2009
Nine Pear Huddle / 20 x 30 / oil on canvas / 2009

Story Time

16 x 24 / oil on canvas / 2009
16 x 24 / oil on canvas / 2009

This is another piece for my June show. It has pre-sold (along with 1:00, 2:00, 3:00) so I’m sharing them a little early.

Painting these books really lights my fire. I picked up the “It’s Story Time” book at an antique shop near my house. Its red cover and the simplicity of the title really are a great contrast to the heavy, dark books.